CIRSD Recommends

Gender equality is a question of human rights. It is also the sustainable way forward for humanity. As co-chair of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Sustainable Development Goals Advocacy Group, I am very pleased that 193 heads of state recognised this i

Following a talk entitled, “Climate Engineering: Coming Soon to a Planet Near You?” the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs sat down with Co-Director of the Forum for Climate Engineering Assessment Dr. Simon Nicholson to discuss the most recent de

Crazy things are happening in the world economy. In Europe and Japan, interest rates have turned negative, something long thought impossible. In the U.S., workers’ productivity is improving at the feeblest five-year rate since 1982. China is a confusing w

Saudi Arabia has captured the world’s attention with the announcement of an ambitious agenda, called Vision 2030, aimed at overhauling the structure of its economy. The plan would reduce historical high dependence on oil by transforming how the Kingdom ge

In the 2016 edition of its World Development Indicators, the World Bank has made a big choice: It’s no longer distinguishing between “developed” countries and “developing” ones in the presentation of its data.

The seventh congress of the North Korean Workers’ Party (WPK) held from May 6 to 8 was a carefully choreographed affair designed to show the world that its newly installed Chairman Kim Jong-un is fully in control of the North Korean state. By taking the t

For 200 years, there have been two schools of thought about what determines the distribution of income – and how the economy functions. One, emanating from Adam Smith and nineteenth-century liberal economists, focuses on competitive markets. The other, co

As evidence demonstrating the relationship between conflict and underdevelopment mounts, the task of building and sustaining global peace seems almost unattainable. This relationship is particularly precarious in countries experiencing high levels of frag

As countries are struggling to implement the EU-Turkey deal on refugees, the debate on how to finance EU migration policy is heating up. Italy has proposed issuing ’EU Migration Bonds’ to fund migration in EU countries, while Germany’s finance minister Wo

Mining and oil is not a sunset industry in Africa. The sector holds great promise — Africa has a big comparative advantage in its store of mineral wealth and human capital. But unlocking this needs policies that encourage long-term, generational investmen

Pope Francis has called corruption “the gangrene of a people.” US Secretary of State John Kerry has labeled it a “radicalizer,” because it “destroys faith in legitimate authority.” And British Prime Minister David Cameron has described it as “one of the g

In February in Addis Ababa, African health ministers signed a widely celebrated declaration of their commitment to keeping immunization at the forefront of efforts to save the continent’s children from death and disease. Fulfilling that commitment will be

The Fort McMurray wildfire catastrophe is a singular tragedy in Canada, but its community-destroying plumes of smoke and flame are not the only sign that this year’s unusually strong El Nino Pacific current, and the resulting hot, dry weather, is spreadin

The question of whether warfare is encoded in our genes, or appeared as a result of civilisation, has long fascinated anyone trying to get to grips with human society. Might a willingness to fight neighbouring groups have provided our ancestors with an ev

A kilogram of new potatoes this week costs just €1.29 in some German supermarkets. But is that the whole story? Not by a long shot. Environmental costs are almost always completely ignored. Some, though, are trying to change that.

The immense potential of nuclear power is both seductive and scary. In the early years of the nuclear age, the scary aspect led the scientific community to raise the banner of nuclear disarmament, but the seductive component proved too strong for politica

The self-proclaimed Islamic State is a militant movement that has conquered territory in western Iraq and eastern Syria, where it has made a bid to establish a state in territories that encompass some six and a half million residents.

Brussels: It's a quaint but bustling city, famed for its picture postcard squares, its chocolate and its beer. But it is rapidly becoming infamous, too, as a fertile recruiting ground for jihadi fighters.